Cadbury

“ Lord Cadbury remained behind, to the intense annoyance of Goring, who, with his two companions, went back to the camp at a canter to be in time for mess; and while Sir Ranald—Cadbury's senior by some fifteen years—dozed and slept after dinner in his easy chair, Alison, till she was weary and well-nigh desperate, had to undergo the prolonged visit, the society, and the unconcealed tenderness, or would-be love-making, of her odious old admirer. ”

“ I can never imagine why any woman who is young and handsome need be shy.'
'You know Lord Cadbury, of course,' said Alison, suddenly.
'Intimately.'
'May I ask your name?'
'Captain Smith,' he replied, without a moment's hesitation. 'The world says queer things of old Cadbury.'
'What do people say?'
'Well, people, of course, say anything but their prayers. So rough things are said of Old Cad., as he is called. But never mind him; let us talk of ourselves, and don't look so uneasy. ”

“ The woman, looking much concerned and a little frightened, followed Cadbury meekly to the scene of disaster. When she saw the lifeless chicken, she raised her hands in horror.
"Dear, dear, dear, sir! Why, it's dead!"
"And it's a very good thing, madam, for you and for all of us, that my friend here is not dead," said Cadbury reprovingly. "The chicken did not die until it had done its best to kill him. And also to wreck his machine! A bicycle is a very costly thing. Grey, my dear fellow, are you feeling a little better? You are sure no bones are broken?" ”

“ Apart from its legendary interest, Cadbury Castle is one of the most remarkable places in all Somersetshire. Four high earth walls surround the hill, the innermost faced with stone. Within the lowest rampart you will find King Arthur’s well; on the hill side strange terraces that were once, they will tell you, shady gardens where fair ladies walked in the cool of a summer’s evening. ”

“ Those members of the room who yearn to subscribe may do so."
"He was on the outlook for the chicken, you remember. Of course he must have known all about it. Cadbury can confirm that."
"Can, but you don't know Cadbury if you think he will. What I say is, ask the young sneak himself. Put it to him straight, and let's see that we get the truth. Why, we should never have lost our half if he had owned up with Cadbury."
"And it's so jolly rough on Cadbury too! Why should one be licked and not the other?" ”

“ So Cadbury soon withdrew, and Sir Ranald was left to muse sadly and bitterly on the perversity of his only child and the prospects of his race.
He was the last baronet, he knew, of Essilmont, and at his death the last rood that remained to him there—the last of the old, old heritage of his forefathers—would pass with him, and what then would become of Alison? His proud, yet selfish and affectionate, soul died within him at the thought of her future, if she pursued her present line of conduct. ”

“ Cadbury, whose head was stooped towards her, erected it, lest her glance might be falling on the little bald patch which he was so terribly conscious of being apparent now, and he shivered with annoyance, and felt wrathful at the girl he was so desirous of pleasing.
'Will you sing for me?' said he, after a pause, 'I am so fond of music.'
'What shall I sing?' asked Alison, seating herself at the piano, and glad to change the tenor of a conversation in which she felt herself ungracious. ”

“ Her father had never ceased to urge Cadbury's suit upon her in the intervals of his strength, and as in the affectionate heart of Alison there was a painful struggle between contempt and pity, sorrow and fear—contempt for his selfishness and avarice, pity for his fallen pride, sorrow for his condition, and a great fear of her own future, for if he should die there she would be utterly alone in the world—alone and penniless in Antwerp! ”

“ In her heart at times fear and pity for the latter struggled with passionate resentment at Lord Cadbury as a schemer who had separated her from her lover. Her father's worldliness was, perhaps, far more a matter of habit and education than nature. He was, however, now like most men of rank—Scottish men of rank, more than any in Europe—selfish to the heart's core ”

“ But I would like to know who the devil sent that mysterious thousand pounds! It may be a trump-card for me yet.'
Cadbury began to consider his plans anew. He would get Alison up to London and give her a letter of introduction—as companion or something of that kind—to a now somewhat passé 'lady friend' of his, who occupied a tiny villa at St. John's Wood, and drove a brougham, of course, who would 'soon contrive to make it all straight for him;' and he chuckled as he thought of the success that, through her, would eventually be his. ”

“ Alison was sick with affright; her father looked grimly, sternly, and pitifully on; but my Lord Cadbury's teeth (or what remained of them) were clattering in his jaws like castanets.
'This is no fault of ours, my lord,' said Tom, 'we had our top-light, as you see; these lubbers had none.'
As he spoke the red light from the flare-tin shed one more than usually powerful glare of radiance on the crowd of appalled visages that lined the hull and filled the rigging of the broken and battered lugger, and then expired, leaving all in the blackness of night again. ”

“ I might as well attempt to make a river run up a hill.'
'What is before you?' asked the peer, a cunning smile twinkling in his eyes, unseen by his visitor.
'Death or disgrace!'
'Disgrace in what fashion?'
'Arrest or flight.'
Cadbury continued to pull each of his moustaches in a kind of nervous way, and after a minute's silence he said, with a kind of laugh,
'I think I can help you.'
'I am not a man who has been used to seek help from others,' said Sir Ranald, with a little of his old pride of bearing. ”

“ As for Cadbury, Goring misdoubted him, and believed him acting out a rôle, by which he had imposed upon Sir Ranald.
He had not the shadow of a doubt of Alison's strength of mind and purity of purpose, yet pressure often achieved much. Her father was evidently ignorant of her whereabouts, and if Cadbury had her on board his yacht, now anchored out in the stream below the Tête de Flandres (which was not impossible) , how had she been taken there, and by whom?
Had she been drugged, stupefied, or what? Such things are read of in the public papers every day. ”

“ He was now perhaps looking upon Nature, with all her beauties, for the last time, and the coming spring and summer might be as nought to him, even after the wealth that had come upon him so unexpectedly; but if he was fated to fall by Cadbury's pistol his chief regret was not for these things, but the fear that, unless those in another world are cognisant of what passes in this, he would never know the fate of Alison Cheyne, or penetrate the veil that hid her whereabouts in mystery now! ”

“ Yet we may be sure that there are few men, if they told truth, but would acknowledge that they felt a very unpleasant emotion when thinking that when another round of the clock was achieved their part in this world might be over—ended and done with!
In the morning he was in a brighter mood, and, though infuriated against Cadbury, had no desire to kill, but only to wound him, to the end that he might wring from him the secret of what he had done with Alison. ”

“ Cadbury, and, handing his pipe to the chief, spoke as follows:—
“My Friends,—I rise to thank you for the words you have spoken to us: they have been kind, and we are thankful for them.
“My Friends,—When I am at home in the wilderness, as well as when I am amongst you, I always pray to the Great Spirit; and I believe the chiefs and the warriors of my tribe, and even the women also, pray every day to the Great Spirit, and He has therefore been very kind to us. ”

“ Alison knew of that circumstance, and she knew too that Cadbury was too innately vulgar not to be ostentatious with his wealth and disinclined to hide his candle under a bushel.
Tom Llanyard, with the Firefly, when taking her to Cowes by Lord Cadbury's orders, had been blown by a foul wind, and in a heavy gale thereof, down the Channel till he was off the coast of Devonshire, where he fell in with a large derelict Indiaman, which had been abandoned by her captain and crew during the gale, and of which he took possession. ”

“ That Alison, with a will of her own, should have a fancy for—even desire to marry—the wrong man was, Sir Ranald at times thought, natural enough, but that she should fancy a 'beggarly fellow' like this Goring, as he deemed him, was monstrous, while Cadbury's wealth and rank were thrown into the opposite scale! ”

“ Lord Cadbury could not come to the quiet and hasty funeral at Chilcote; he was 'too indisposed.' Certainly Alison did not want him. She had had quite enough of the peer, and hoped never to see his face again.
'Better awa', Miss Alison, better awa'; his absence is guid companie,' said Archie, who could not endure Cadbury, and loathed his dandified groom Gaskins. ''Od, missie, he's worth nae weal that canna bide wae. May he dee like a trooper's horse, wi' his shoon on!' added Archie, through his set teeth. ”

“ Dying—Dr. Kneebone assured Lord Cadbury that the old man was certainly dying, and fully stronger than ever grew the hopes of the peer to possess Alison, the poor and forlorn, beautiful and hunted creature, in the midst of her coming desolation and loneliness. ”

“ Lord Cadbury had received a card of invitation pour milord et ses dames to a Redoute monstre et fête de nuit at the Théâtre des Variétés, where there was to be a species of bal masqué in the great saloon, and on the stage a 'Kermesse Flamande, Fête Venitienne,' as it was announced, and he treated Sir Ranald's permission to take Alison with him, simply as a spectator in her street costume.
All the ladies who dance at these balls wear masques and black silk dominoes over their ball dresses ”

“ Antoine; to Cadbury, at the thought of which she shivered; to the Bal Masqué at the theatre; the Café au Progrès, and the insolence of 'Captain Smith;' her flight through the snowy streets; her fall at the door of a house, the nature of which she knew not; all these things floated dimly and dreamily before her now, though they seemed to have happened but a few hours ago.
'How fortunate that you had the power to ring our bell before you fainted, child,' said the nun, caressing her and kissing her cheek. ”

“ One might as well expect to see a queen or a professional beauty filling the post. Clever this governess dodge of yours,' he continued, with a kind of insolence peculiar to himself. 'I suppose these girls are your nieces—little decoy ducklings to play propriety? And how is our mutual friend, old Cad—I mean Lord Cadbury? Seen him lately? No answer? Quarrelled, I suppose—these things never last long; but you are as charming as ever. How bad of you to leave me as you did that night in the Café au Progrès!'
Alison called the children to her side and walked away. ”

“ On the day after the hunt Lord Cadbury's groom, Gaskins, came riding to Chilcote with a magnificent bouquet from the conservatories for Alison, and his master's anxious inquiries as to how she had enjoyed the sport of the previous day, and a hope that she had not suffered from fatigue ”

“ Thus it was that both Sir Ranald and Lord Cadbury had utterly failed to trace her, and fortunate it was indeed for Alison that she had fallen into such good hands as those of the Beguines, who are a religious order, altogether peculiar to Belgium, each nun having a private residence of her own within the general enclosure. ”

“ Cadbury Brothers removed their works from Birmingham to the present site at Bournville, and twenty-four cottages were erected there for their workmen. This really formed the nucleus out of which in recent years the village has developed. It was in 1895 that Mr. George Cadbury, the senior member of the present firm, commenced the work of building a model village. ”

“ He is the only old man I shall ever care for; the only old man worth giving up my life to. Well,' added Alison, mentally, 'that is pretty pointed surely; if he does not take that hint, he will never take any.'
'But your papa cannot live for ever,' said Cadbury, not unwilling to inflict a thrust in return. ”

“ These Cadbury lays at your feet, offering you—who by position and education are unfit to be a poor man's wife—absolute splendour.'
'But Bevil is not so poor as you think, and, moreover, may be richer in time,' urged Alison, piteously ”

“ She would soon learn to love him fully and confidently, and he would be content to wait for the coming joy of a regular engagement. But how about Sir Ranald Cheyne's views; how about Cadbury's too probable offers ”

“ Alison smiled at his blunt energy, and she rather clung to the society of this good, cheery, honest fellow, and felt, when with or near him, a sense of protection.
'It is evident that Cadbury is up to some game,' thought Tom; 'but it is the way of the world—the world in which these people live. Her youth and beauty, poor girl, will be his ”

“ A mortal terror smote the heart of Goring as he listened; but rage greatly took its place when the concierge, with apparent sympathy, referred to the dismay and anxiety of Milord Cadbury.
This Goring deemed but trickery to cover some act of deceit he had perpetrated, end terribly did the as yet baffled lover resolve to punish it ”

“ North Cadbury is the correct name of the parish.
[66] The Blackall family had been established and respected in Devonshire since the episcopate of their ancestor, Offspring Blackall, Bishop of Exeter in the time of Queen Anne. Our Sam Blackall (an uncle of the same name had preceded him as Fellow of Emmanuel) was great-grandson of the Bishop; he became Fellow, and was ordained, in 1794; took the living of North Cadbury in 1812, and lived until 1842. ”